Hong Kong shares expected to open steady, Q1 earnings loom

HONG KONG, April 25 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares could start
steady on Thursday ahead of a slew of first quarter earnings
from bellwether Chinese companies ranging from Chinese oil
majors PetroChina and Sinopec Corp to Bank
of China.

Citic Securities, China Life Insurance,
China Unicom, COSCO Pacific, Great Wall
Motor and Yanzhou Coal are also among
companies due to report first quarter earnings later in the day.

On Wednesday, the Hang Seng Index ended up 1.7
percent at 22,183.1, its highest close since April 3. The China
Enterprises Index of the top Chinese listings in Hong
Kong climbed 2 percent.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's Nikkei was up 0.1
percent, while South Korea's KOSPI was up 0.4 percent at
0032 GMT.

FACTORS TO WATCH:

* China will cut its retail price of gasoline by 395 yuan
($63.93) per tonne and that of diesel by 400 yuan from Thursday,
the government said, in its first change under a new fuel price
mechanism that is more tightly linked to the cost of crude oil.

* Brazil's Vale SA , the world's
second-largest mining company, said on Wednesday that first
quarter net profit fell 18 percent from a year earlier, but the
results were better than market expectations.

* China Pacific Insurance said its
first quarter net profit jumped 24 percent to 2.2 billion yuan
($356.10 million) from a year earlier.

* The Jamaican government and Russian mining company Rusal
have agreed to reopen two of the Caribbean island's
alumina plants within three years, Jamaica's energy and mining
minister, Phillip Paulwell, announced on Wednesday.

* Sinopharm Group said its first quarter net
profit rose 17.9 percent from a year earlier.

* Anton Oilfield said it has entered into a master
mutual supply and purchase agreement with Schlumberger.

* Fosun International said it respects and will
comply with the judgment of the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate
People's Court that the company's proposed acquisition of The
Bund 8-1 Land in Shanghai is a malicious collusion.